Education

Areas of Research/Interest

External Affiliations

Member of the Center for the Study of Human Origins (CSHO). Director, UMI 3199: CNRS-NYU Center for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CIRHUS) Chercheur associé, UMR 5608 TRACES, Université de Toulouse 2 - Le Mirail.

"Introduction," in White R., Bourrillon R. (eds.) with the collaboration of Bon F., Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe, Proceedings of the International Symposium, April 08- 10 2013, New York University, P@lethnology, 7, 5-7. (with R. Bourrillon and F. Bon). 2015.

"Early Aurignacian Graphic Arts in the Vézère Valley: In Search of an Identity?," in White R., Bourrillon R. (eds.) with the collaboration of Bon F.,Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe, Proceedings of the International Symposium, April 08- 10 2013, New York University, P@lethnology, 7, 118-137. (with R. Bourrillon). 2015.

"Early and Archaic Aurignacian Personal Ornaments from Isturitz Cave: Technological and Regional Perspectives," in White R., Bourrillon R. (eds.) with the collaboration of Bon F., Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe, Proceedings of the International Symposium, April 08-10 2013, New York University, P@lethnology, 7, 138-164. (with C. Normand). 2015.

"The Aurignacian Site of the Abri de la Souquette (commune de Sergeac, Dordogne): A History of Archeology," in White R., Bourrillon R. (eds.) with the collaboration of Bon F., Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe, Proceedings of the International Symposium, April 08-10 2013, New York University, P@lethnology, 7, 98-117. (with J. O'Hara, Z. Garrett, A. Roussot and T. Higham).2015.

"The historic and legal context of foreign acquisitions of Paleolithic artifacts from the Périgord: 1900-1941". In L. Straus (ed.) The Role of American Archaeologists in the Study of the European Upper Paleolithic. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. 71-83. 2002 "Personal ornaments from the grotte du Renne at Arcy-sur-Cure". Athena Rev. 2(4): 41-46 (special issue on the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition). 2001.

Current News/Projects

Updated February 2017

I have spent the past 23 years directing excavation, analysis and archival research on the Aurignacian sites of Abri Castanet, Abri Blanchard, La Souquette, Abri Cellier... and now Sous-le-Roc, all situated in the classic zone of the Vézère Valley in SW France. This long-term research commitment has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Partner University Fund and several other agencies. Our approach has been "paleoethnographic," that is to say the excavation of large Aurignacian living surfaces and the meticulous recovery and dating of some of the oldest remains of symbolic behavior in Europe.

Our work from 1994 to 2012 at Abri Castanet resulted in the discovery of a large portion of the collapsed shelter ceiling bearing engraved and painted imagery, sitting directly on a well preserved archaeological layer containing complex fireplace structures that were the focal point for human activities at the site.

In 2011-2012, excavations at Abri Blanchard, probably the richest Aurignacian site ever to be excavated, yielded intact in situ deposits containing one of the most stunning Aurignacian engravings ever discovered, dating to 38 000 years ago.

In 2014, my team and I returned to the Abri Cellier rock shelter, excavaed long ago by an American team in 1927. Their work resulted in the discovery of 15 engraved or otherwise modified limestone blocks from the basal Aurignacian level. We have now dated this layer to ca. 38,000 years ago and, remarkably, we have added 16 more engraved or otherwise modified blocks attributed to the same level.

In light of our discoveries at Castanet, Blanchard and Cellier, I have launched a new study of all of the known Aurignacian engraved blocks from SW France in collaboration with my Toulouse colleague Raphaëlle Bourrillon. So far we have increased the known sample of engraved or otherwise modified limestone blocks from the Vézère Aurignacian by 40%.

In 2015, we published a special issue of the journal Paleoethnology/Paléoethnologie, with 17 articles on the Aurignacian emanating from a major international symposium held at New York University in 2013. This volume, entitled Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe. Each of the published articles is presented in English and in French, making the research results available to a broad international audience.

Finally, a long-term project on the early twentieth-century history of French archaeology continues. I have had the good fortune to discover several entirely unknown archives related to the “Hauser Affair.” Otto Hauser was a very ambitious German-Swiss archaeologist who was forced to flee France at the outset of World War I under a cloud of accusations of espionage and artifact selling. Far from being of mere local interest, the “affaire Hauser” took place against a backdrop of European history, politics, and administrative entanglements. For example, Hauser was allied with members of the anti-clerical movement at a time when considerable power in archaeology was held by Catholic lay priests. Contrary to received wisdom, Hauser is revealed by archival sources and photographs to have been a remarkable excavator, well ahead of his time. A first book on this subject,L’Affaire de l’abri du Poisson : Patrie et préhistoire (Périgueux: Fanlac), appeared in late 2006 and I am currently pursuing work on a second book on this complex and controversial subject.Finally, a long-term project on the early twentieth-century history of French archaeology continues. I have had the good fortune to discover several entirely unknown archives related to the “Hauser Affair.” Otto Hauser was a very ambitious German-Swiss archaeologist who was forced to flee France at the outset of World War I under a cloud of accusations of espionage and artifact selling. Far from being of mere local interest, the “affaire Hauser” took place against a backdrop of European history, politics, and administrative entanglements. For example, Hauser was allied with members of the anti-clerical movement at a time when considerable power in archaeology was held by Catholic lay priests. Contrary to received wisdom, Hauser is revealed by archival sources and photographs to have been a remarkable excavator, well ahead of his time. A first book on this subject, L’Affaire de l’abri du Poisson : Patrie et préhistoire (Périgueux: Fanlac), appeared in late 2006 and I am currently pursuing work on a second book on this complex and controversial subject.